Some Books of the Week
IN undertaking to translate Du Dandysme et de George Brummell, by Barbey D'Aurevilly (Peter Davies, 42s.), Mr. D. B. Wyndham Lewis set himself a peculiarly difficult task—so individual, so sensitive, and in its neatly embroidered way so_ essentially French was this young nineteenth-century writer's style—but there can be no doubt as to. the success of his venture. Mr. Lewis, to adapt his own metaphor, has managed to re-bottle _ this Gallic wine with its " characteristic perfume and peculiar savour " still about it, with the result that we think of the work rather as a brilliant piece of French prose made accessible to English readers than as a translation. If this seems to be a paradox, nevertheless in it surely lies the secret of the translator's art : to retain the foreign character while writing in English, We should imagine that in this case Mr. Lewis incidentally got a good deal of fun out of rendering some of D'Aurevilly's curious preciosities into their English equivalents. As to the book itself, The Anatomy of Dandyism (the English title) was never more thoroughly examined than here. The young Frenchman understood the motives and the spirit of English Macaroni-ism in the time of the Regency as few Englishmen did then or do _now ; and the subject, despite the censure of heavily serious people, is probably worthy of as much intelligent study as may be given to it. Vanity of'vanities, all is vanity, and BrummeE was as nearly a personification of this " all "—outwardly at least—as any man that ever lived. It is pleasant to see such originality in a publishing house notable for its taste—the book is bound
in black satinette—but how long will this precious stuff wear ?
* * * *
Previous page
